A paddle “trail” will connect the Lower Mainland to Vancouver Island

A paddle corridor is being planned across the Georgia Straight. The Salish Sea Marine Trail will be a network of beach camping sites, all a day’s paddle apart that will allow you to put your kayak in the water in Vancouver, and end up at Clover Point in Victoria.

The purpose of the 257 km route is to make the coastline more accessible.

“It’s beautiful, majestic and natural, and it is where we came from. That is so important to preserve,” said Stephanie Meinke, president of the B.C. Marine Trails Network Association, to the CBC.

The BC Marine Trails association is funding and organizing the route and is currently negotiating with rights holders to have access to the camping spaces. The route will take you from Vancouver, across the Howe Sound to the Sunshine Coast. You’ll Island hop Texada and Lasqueti over to Winchelsea and Ballenas and land north of Nanaimo. Then down the Island, over to some Gulf Islands like Salt Spring (good times in Ganges!) then down the Saanich Peninsula before ending up on a patio in the Cook Street Village of Victoria.

If everything comes together in time, it should be ready for Canada’s 150th on July 1st and be part of the Trans-Canada Trail.